One Democrat and two Republicans are running for their parties' nominations to a three-year seat on the Warren County Board of Chosen Freeholders. Incumbent John Polhemus is the lone Democrat. On the GOP ballot tomorrow will be Jim Smith and Tom Walsh.

John Polhemus will have to wait until November for a challenge to his second term on the Warren County Board of Chosen Freeholders.

The 49-year-old resident of White Township and longtime owner of Crossroads Farm, Belvidere, will be the only Democrat on tomorrow's primary ballot seeking a three-year term as a freeholder.

Before being sworn in to his first term in 1987, he spent the previous three years as a White Township committeeman, one of those years as its mayor.

Polhemus served on the White Township School Board eight years; was on its planning board for three, and was a member and chairman of its Environmental Commission "for a long time."

He also had been appointed to serve on the governor's Rural Advisory Council by former Gov. Brendan Byrne.

"Three years ago when I first ran for freeholder I talked a lot about long-term planning because the county had gotten into financial trouble trying to do too much too soon," Polhemus said. "I hope to continue that leveling- out process by taking pieces of major projects and doing them on a pay-as- you-go basis, for the time being.

"I would like to see our farmland preservation program continued. We expect to be able to retire the development rights on 600 acres in Allamuchy Township very shortly," he said.

Polhemus is the freeholder liaison to the Warren County Library and said he wants to see the county library branch system expanded.

And he is critical of the Phillipsburg Free Public Library's plans to break away from the county system.

"Why, when we're planning an expansion of the system, does the Phillipsburg library director all at once want to serve the southern end of the county when for years she wasn't concerned about them?"

Since he was elected to the board, Polhemus said, public access to the freeholders has increased. "We changed the meeting times so there is one night meeting and one day meeting per month. We changed the agenda so that people who want to talk to the freeholders can speak first rather than sit through the whole meeting.

"We're trying to take care of our older buildings better," he said of another change he has been involved with - better maintenance of county buildings. "For instance, little things, like the windows in the courthouse getting washed for the first time in a very long time.

"We hired a separate head for the maintenance department," he said - the county had one in the past and recently reinstituted the job. "We didn't expand the department, we just gave it a separate department head from the road department. I think it's made things more efficient. That's why we're able to get some of this work done now.

"I have a lot of concern about the state's development and redevelopment plan. I don't know where it's going," Polhemus said of the state's master plan.

He explained that the county's development plans are formed from the plans of each municipality in the county.

The county then presents its development plans to the state. "If the municipalities' plans don't meet with the state plans, something has to be done," Polhemus said. "The freeholders have made it clear to the municipalities that we will back them up to get the state to change the master plan."

There was some concern from fellow Democrat and Phillipsburg Mayor W. Paul Rummerfield over whether Polhemus would run at all. Rummerfield considered running if Polhemus did not. In February, Rummerfield said he was concerned because "Polhemus took so long to announce his intentions."

But Polhemus said he waited to announce his re-election plans because he was in the midst of county budget hearings.

When the slightly more than $42 million budget was approved in March, Polhemus said, "It is a budget that raises the same amount of taxes as last year, which means people's taxes will stay the same or go down. This is something Ann Stone and I are proud of. It's an accomplishment in this day and age."

Democrat Stone and Republican Ken Miller are the other two freeholders.

Polhemus admits running the farm and being a freeholder are two full-time jobs. "It's not easy. But the work gets done. Obviously in the spring I don't have as much time as I do in the winter and fall, but I still put in a lot of time in my freeholder job . . . all the time."